This invention relates to novel water soluble polymers of allyloxybenzenesulfonate monomers, a process for their preparation, and to their use in aqueous systems containing particulate matter.
There are many aqueous industrial systems which require that various solid materials remain in a suspended or dispersed state. Typical aqueous systems include, for example, boiler water or steam generating systems, cooling water systems, gas scrubbing systems, pulp and paper mill systems, desalination systems, and downhole systems encountered during the production of gas, oil, and geothermal wells. Most water contains (either naturally or by contamination) ingredients which can cause accumulation, deposition, and fouling problems. Without the use of suitable water soluble polymers which act as dispersants and/or scale inhibitors in the water, undesirable inorganic mineral scale and/or sludge deposits will form in dynamic industrial systems as well as in static systems such as water storage tanks and the ballast tanks of ships and vessels. Such deposits have a deleterious effect on the economics and maintenance of such facilities resulting in poor water circulation and, in the case where the system requires heating, significant losses in heat transfer efficiency.
Typical deposits include iron oxides, calcium, magnesium and zinc deposits (e.g., carbonates, sulfates, silicates, oxylates, phosphates, etc.), silt, alumina, aluminum, clays, mud, etc.
Some factors which influence scale and sludge formation include the temperature, rate of heat transfer, divalent ion concentration, alkalinity, dissolved solids and the pH of the water in a particular system.
Many different synthetic water soluble polymers have been employed in a wide range of water treatment applications as dispersants for particulate matter and inhibitors of mineral scale formation and deposition. Polymers containing carboxylic acid and/or sulfonic acid functionality have been found to be particularly useful.
The water treatment industry is constantly looking for new processes and products which will provide more efficient operation of aqueous systems by maintaining water contaminates in a dispersed state under a wide range of process conditions. Dispersants which provide corrosion inhibition would also be considered very useful.
Water soluble polymers are also of importance in other systems including, for example, in drilling muds, cementiferious compositions, pigment dispersions, and mineral slurries.
In aqueous drilling muds, a dispersant's ability to deflocculate and disperse flocculated and agglomerated solids, especially in electrolyte-rich fluids, is highly desired. Conventionally used polyacrylates are known to be sensitive to divalent cations which may be introduced into a drilling fluid through electrolyte-releasing formations containing gypsum, lime and other salt deposits or by the water available to formulate the mud (e.g. sea water). There is still a need for new products which can provide rheological stability to polyelectrolyte containing drilling muds, and in particular to high solids muds (having densities greater than 15 pounds per gallon).
In cementiferious compositions, polymeric additives which improve the physical characteristics such as the flow and workability thereof are employed. The additives (often referred to as plasticizers) improve the flow characteristics of the compositions containing them so that they may be pumped or effectively poured to fill all the spaces in a mold or other structure. Such additives can be used to design cementiferous compositions with a reduced water content which still retain adequate flow properties.
Allyloxybenzenesulfonates have been copolymerized with acrylonitrile. The fibers produced from such copolymers have been found to have good basic and cationic dye receptivity. Methods for preparing the allyloxybenzenesulfonate monomers, the copolymerization of the monomers with acrylonitrile alone and with other olefinic monomers, and the fibers thereof are described in detail in the following references: Chemical Abstracts Volume 78 (1973), 78: 84025h; U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,835 (issued Nov. 21, 1968 to C. Mazzolini et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,104, (issued Feb. 4, 1969 to J. Masson); U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,089 (issued July 31, 1979 to G. Palethorpe); U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,970 (issued May 5, 1981 to H. Bach); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,613 and 4,294,884 (issued Oct. 6 and Oct. 13, 1981 respectively, to H. Bach et al.). None of the above references disclose or suggest the products of the present invention or their use in aqueous systems containing particulate matter.